Wanderers looking to improve home record

Date: January 21 2013

Adrian Warren

Western Sydney goal poacher Mark Bridge says the need for several of the Wanderers to prove a point is a key factor in their stunning challenge for an A-League finals spot in the club's inaugural season.

The fledgling franchise has risen to fourth following successive away wins at Wellington and Brisbane and are eight points clear of fifth-placed Melbourne Heart, who they host in round 18 on Saturday.

"Me personally, no. We have a very good side, a very good squad," Bridge said.

"There's a lot of talented players in there that I think you could say had a lot of things to prove.

"There's a lot of players that have represented their country and some guy called Shinji Ono that came into the team as well.

"We've been working hard and I think for the moment we deserve what we're getting."

Coach Tony Popovic said he can understand fans getting excited about his side's finals chances.

"Our fans can certainly start believing that we have a good chance of getting in the top six," Popovic on Monday.

"With the format this year, it shows that if you are in the six that anyone has a chance of winning the league, so we can possibly start dreaming about making the six, but there's still a long way to go."

With six goals from 14 starts, Bridge is enjoying a productive season after two fallow seasons for Sydney, scoring three in 2011-12 and one in 2010-11.

"I worked very hard in the pre-season and I'm still working hard and still being very disciplined, so I guess that is the thing that has changed and it's obviously paying off," he said.

"I still had a year left at Sydney and left there to come here.

"Me, along with a few other players, all had something to prove."

While they have enjoyed tremendous home support, Wanderers have suffered four of their six losses at Parramatta Stadium.

"We've only lost two games away, we wanted to change our home performances to make it so it's a fortress and we're slowly doing that too," Bridge said.

"We still have to play all the teams above us at their home grounds so there's no easy games this season."

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